A 32-YEAR-OLD man who admitted attacking and raping a woman in Leicester’s Bede Park has been given a mandatory life sentence in prison.

Michal Cezary Podlaszczyk, of no fixed address, approached the victim as she walked through the city park on the morning of Saturday, October 29 last year.

According to a spokesperson for Leicestershire Police, he knocked her to the floor, assaulted her and stole her mobile phone and debit card before running off.

Podlaszczyk appeared at Leicester Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday, April 11) where he was sentenced to life in prison to serve a minimum of seven and a half years after admitting three counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, one count of assault, attempted theft, theft and robbery at an earlier hearing.